Another Cheney blasts Obama on terrorism
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 6, 2010 10:06 AM

Like father, like daughter.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney caused a ruckus last week by blasting President Obama's response to the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day. Obama, the critic-in-chief said, was pretending that the US wasn't at war with terror.

Liz Cheney today criticized Obama's remarks on Tuesday after huddling with his Cabinet and national security team. Head of an outfit called Keep America Safe, she said his decision to suspend sending detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, an increasing Al Qaeda hotbed, wasn't enough. While it will delay closing the controversial detention facility since half the remaining 198 detainees are from Yemen, Obama vowed to keep his promise to close it down.

"Pausing the transfer of al-Qaeda terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen is insufficient to ensure the security of the United States. If President Obama is serious about keeping the American people safe, he should reverse his irresponsible and ill-advised decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," she said in a statement.

"He should reverse his decision to usher terrorists from Guantanamo onto U.S. soil. He should reverse his decision to bring the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to New York. He should reverse his decision to give KSM and other terrorists the rights of Americans and the benefit of a criminal trial in an American civilian court," Cheney added. "He should immediately classify Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, as an illegal enemy combatant, not a criminal defendant. He should inform Attorney General Holder that he will no longer allow the Justice Department to treat terrorism as a crime instead of an act of war, nor will he allow them to investigate or prosecute CIA officials who kept us safe after 9/11, or disbar or otherwise punish the lawyers who provided the legal framework for programs that saved American lives."

She also echoed her father's verbal assault that the president isn't treating the battle against terrorism like the war it is: "President Obama has weakened American security by treating terror as a law enforcement matter, refusing to use every tool at his disposal to prevent attacks, and taking his eye off the ball. America's homeland security and counterterrorism systems will continue to erode in the absence of strong, consistent, unwavering presidential stewardship. It's time for the President to make defending this nation his top priority."

(AP) The alleged Yemeni roots of the attack on a Detroit-bound airliner threaten to complicate U.S. efforts to empty Guantanamo, where nearly half the remaining detainees are from Yemen.

Finding a home for them is key to President Obama's pledge to close the prison, but emerging details of the plot are renewing concerns about Yemen's capacity to contain militants and growing al Qaeda safe havens.

While inmates of other nationalities have left Guantanamo in droves, roughly 90 Yemenis have been held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba for as long as seven years.

A breakthrough seems less likely since al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day. The group counts two former Guantanamo detainees among its leaders, and some in the U.S. Congress are warning against sending any more detainees to Yemen.

A breakthrough seems less likely since al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day. The group counts two former Guantanamo detainees among its leaders